Thoughts and observations by English poet Roger N. Taber, a retired librarian & poet-novelist.- "Colour, creed, sex, sexuality... these are but part of a whole. It is the whole that counts." RNT [NB While I have no wish to create a social network, I will always reply to emails. Contact: rogertab@aol.com].

Sunday, 21 September 2014

Sword and Shield OR A Fight to the Better End

[Update (Oct 18 2016): It is more than two years now since my fall that resulted in a badly fractured ankle. The warned me tt the hospital that, given my age, I might never walk again, but I was having none of that, kept religiously to a daily schedule of physiotherapy and can now walk quite well with the aid of a walking stick. Yes, walking is sometimes painful still, but it is a great feeling to be out and about. The prostate cancer, too, remains under control with hormone therapy. So...no worries that I cannot overcome by reflecting on my late mother's words, 'If you worry, you'll die and if you don't worry you'll still die one day so...why worry?' I guess we just have to keep a sense of proportion.]Since my fall, five
weeks ago, I have had to exercise a degree of patience I did not know I possessed.
I am always out and about, but have been housebound as the front steps are too many
and steep for me to negotiate with crutches. Unable to put any weight on my
left foot, a Zimmer frame gives me greater mobility around my flat. It has
taken until last week for a CT scan to reveal a fracture in the heel so now I
have a cast and must continue hopping around on the Zimmer for at least another
five weeks. The heel may mend or it may not. I must wait and see…

I live alone, but friends and my lovely
neighbours in the flat below have been a godsend, helping with shopping and
everyday tasks around the flat that I cannot do myself. Their support means everything. Even so, there have been
moments when I have felt very low; it was at just such a time that I had a spirited
debate with Pain and wrote the poem, a kenning.

SWORD AND SHIELD or A FIGHT TO THE BETTER END

True, I am no friend

but do not mean you harm,

will arrive uninvited

(and most unwelcome)

yet do my best

to make my stay as bearable

as possible,

coaxing mind, body and
spirit

to comfort, find peace

I may bring clouds

and wintry days, but always

call on spring flowers

and scents of halcyon days

to brighten dark corners

where you may well cower

from everyday hardship,

and a growing sense of bleaker

times yet to come

True, I am no friend,

but I have the power to make

stronger person of you

if you will only rise above

the worst and make

the best of our time
together,

let mind, body and spirit

make peace with even a
wretch

the likes of me

As Pain its makeshift sword wields,
so peace and love, lasting shields

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About Me

A gay man. Born in Gillingham, Kent (UK) Dec. 21st 1945. Graduated with BA Hons.(Class 2/1) in English & American Literature, the University of Kent in Canterbury, summer 1973.

Some 700+ poems have appeared in poetry publications worldwide since 1993, excluding any that only appear in my collections.

Better known as a poet, my first novel - 'Blasphemy' was published in the USA, October 2006 ; it is Book 1 of a planned trilogy and was also distributed in the UK & the rest of Europe. Book 2 - 'Sacrilege' -was self-published and only on sale in the UK or on the Internet. [Book 3 - 'Redemption' - has been delayed due to illness. (I have prostate cancer.) Other novels have not yet found an agent/ publisher but are serialised on my fiction site.